i. ice skating

For as long as Annabeth has lived in New York, she should probably be used to the cold. It's tolerable, at least when she's not standing in the middle of the snow, but it's still not very pleasant when she walks into the big room with floors of literal ice.

It's worth it, though, when Percy presses his warm lips to her neck and gives a subtle smile against her skin.

"Are you okay?" he asks, but he sounds humored. "You're shivering."

Annabeth rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulder to get him away from her. He doesn't seem particularly offended by that, simply moving away from her and choosing to look her up and down instead. He's got a dumb smile gracing his lips, and she finds it cute at first, until she realizes he's mocking her distinct lack of warm clothes.

"Shut up," she says.

"You could have worn something other than jeans and a t-shirt," he chides, tilting his head. "Is that my shirt?"

"No," Annabeth lies. "Can I have your jacket?"

"You're ridiculous," he says, but he still shrugs the jacket off his shoulders and holds it open for her to step into. He pulls her hair out from beneath the fabric and finishes the movement off with a kiss to her cheek before he whispers in her ear something about going to get their skates. Annabeth's left on the edge of the rink by herself, and it's a bit terrifying watching the children stumble around on the ice, knowing that she's not going to be any better.

She hadn't even wanted to come because she knew that it would end in a million bruises, but then Percy had brought it up, and he was so excited that she figured a million bruises would be worth it.

Even putting on the skates is a struggle, and Percy doesn't bother to help. He just openly laughs at her, and she gives him a scowl that doesn't faze him.

"You're the one that dragged me here," she says after a minute, leaning her palms back onto the bench behind herself and kicking a leg toward him. "You come put these on."

"I already put mine on," he teases.

"Good. Then you can come help me."

"Only because this is painful to watch." He drops to one knee so he can delicately tie the laces before moving onto the other shoe. "I can't believe you don't know how to ice skate."

"Listen."

"Annabeth Chase, architect of Olympus, but you can't ice skate."

"I don't need your judgement," Annabeth tells him, but she's smothering a smile as she pushes his hand away and chooses to stand on her own.

"There you go," Percy encourages, walking behind her as she attempts to make her way to the entrance of the rink. His hands are even extended behind her as though she's going to fall, and Annabeth is slightly insulted by that. She swears people are staring at her, and Percy isn't helping with the way he keeps throwing smart remarks her way, but she forgets to scold him for it when she steps on the ice and nearly takes her first fall of the night.

"I'm ready to go home."

"Oh, come on."

"I'm going to break my neck and die," Annabeth says. "Is that what you want?"

"I won't let you break your neck," Percy promises. "I'll let you fall, but break your neck?"

"So reassuring."

Percy rolls his eyes but gives her an adoring smile. "I won't let you fall."

"I don't even know how to skate."

"You put one foot in front of the other, like—" Percy's arms shoot out when her foot slips out from beneath her. He has an uncomfortable grip around her waist as he tries to help her back to her feet. Percy's lips brush against the curve of her ear. "At least let me finish talking before you throw yourself at the ground, yeah?"

"I don't like you right now."

"You love me," Percy dismisses. He lets go of her for a moment when she's upright again, but she gives him pleading eyes, so he replaces his hands on the dip of her hips. "Try taking a step?"

Annabeth's sure her stance is reminiscent of a deer in headlights, but she drags one foot forward at the same time Percy kicks one leg back. They make progress slowly, but Annabeth's content with borderline walking around the rink. She spends five minutes like that, and at some point, Percy abandons the spot in front of her so he can skate beside her. Annabeth resorts to squeezing his upper arm, but he doesn't make any complaints about that.

"See? This isn't so difficult."

"I'm never coming here again."

Percy snorts. "Alright."

They begin to gain a bit of speed, and Annabeth feels triumphant.

"I'm a genius," Annabeth says after making it around one lap. "I'm literally so good at ice skating."

Percy throws his head back in a laugh when she takes a stumble that was particularly close to bringing her to the ground. "What's that you just said?"

Annabeth playfully tugs her hand off of his arm and shoos him away. "I don't need your negativity."

Percy sticks out the heel of his skate so he can swerve in front of her and bring the two of them to a stop. Annabeth balances herself by grabbing both of his arms, and she doesn't miss the slight sparkle of amusement in his green eyes.

"Hi," Annabeth says, locking onto his loving eyes. "Why'd we stop?"

"I don't know," Percy admits. "You look adorable, and I just wanted to look at you."

His hands rest back against her hips before circling around and tugging her closer. She smiles softly and rests her chin against his chest, and he kisses her nose lightly.

"We can leave," he says. "I won't mind."

"You wanted to come."

"There are plenty of things we can do that don't include you running into walls."

"I only did that once, and it was your fault."

Percy bits his lower lip to stifle his choke of laughter. "How is that my fault?"

"You're nothing but trouble," Annabeth tells him. "I'm always going to blame you."

Percy nudges his nose with hers. "Why does that not bother me?"

"Because you're in love with me," she says earnestly. "It's kind of lame."

"You're lame."

"And your hands are getting a bit low there, buddy."

Percy smiles and moves his hands back to her waist from where they'd been drifting lower.

"You're so embarrassing," Annabeth mutters, shoving her face into the crook of his neck to bury a smile. "Everyone just watched you grope my ass."

"I was not groping you," Percy argues, adjusting his arms around her so he can properly hug her tight. "I was helping you stand."

Annabeth gives a sarcastic laugh at that, but her head remains nestled against his neck. He's extremely warm, so she doesn't think she'll be moving from his embrace anytime soon. Percy doesn't seem to mind.

"Let's go," he offers quietly, squeezing her slightly when she makes a hum of disappointment. "We can go home and watch movies. That's much better than breaking bones, yeah?"

"Instead of ice skating? Where's your Christmas spirit?"

"It disappeared when I watched you run into that wall."

Annabeth threads her fingers in his hair and tugs, though it's not hard enough to actually hurt him.

"We can watch Christmas movies if that makes you feel any better?"

"That's more promising."

She lifts her head now and catches him gazing down at her. He towers over her, and Annabeth isn't sure when exactly that had happened, but then he leans down to kiss her forehead, and she isn't complaining.

Percy extends his hand to her, and Annabeth takes it. She makes it off the ice faster than she'd made it on to begin with, and she considers that a win.

"You know," Percy begins, pressing a hand into the small of her back as she steps off the ice. "I'm not sure what movie we'll watch, but I'm willing to bet that they know how to ice skate."

"Oh, shut up."

Percy catches her by the arm and pulls her into him again, and his lips hover over hers. It almost tickles, the way his lips brush hers. "Merry Christmas, loser."

And it's not quite Christmas yet, but she gets onto the tips of her toes and kisses him until she forgets what the cold feels like.


and we're doing 25 days of christmas part two! can i make it through? let's find out xx